


You've Been Here Before

by inwhatfurnace



Category: Free!
Genre: Free! Kink Meme, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-14
Updated: 2013-09-14
Packaged: 2017-12-26 12:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/966106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inwhatfurnace/pseuds/inwhatfurnace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And suddenly he is sixteen and terrified of being in love again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You've Been Here Before

**Author's Note:**

> Another fill for a great prompt over at the [Free! Kink Meme](http://iwatobiswimclub.dreamwidth.org/), originally found [here](http://iwatobiswimclub.dreamwidth.org/1476.html?thread=1393348#cmt1393348). Futurefic that eventually turns into cotton candy fluff, I am only slightly ashamed.

`I like you a lot.`

If Nagisa had to guess how long he’d stared at that text since his first year of high school, he’d say somewhere in the range of weeks, maybe months, all together. He sneaks glances at it during lunch, and stares at it sitting on his bed at home. It sits patiently in his Drafts folder, waiting for the day it would be sent.

 _I like you_ was too easily brushed aside, and _I love you_ was too terrifying to even consider, so he had settled somewhere in between, with a quantifier that couldn’t be ignored.

He and Rei are co-captains of the swim team now, taking up the gauntlet after Makoto graduated last year. Rei had tried to convince him to captain on his own, _I can still barely swim freestyle_ , he had pleaded, but Gou had written both of their names in the captain field of the club form with a smile, and that was that.

The swim team is doing well, with plenty of nervous, chatty first years and more confident second years – Nagisa and Rei are still the only third years, but they have enough members to compete in just about every event at competitions. Nagisa can’t help but think that Makoto and Haruka would be proud of their cheering section now – the first years have even come up with their own Iwatobi Swim Team fight song with the help of Coach Sasabe.

Haruka, Makoto, and Rin visit often, and Nagisa is pretty sure it’s because the underclassmen have elevated them to swimming gods and openly flail whenever they stop by to watch the team practice. Makoto and Haruka go to university not too far away, and Rin has been training with the national swim team in preparation for the Olympics.

Rei’s swimming has gotten better, regardless of what he says. Nagisa’s almost taught him the breaststroke (he’s careful not to let his hands linger when correcting Rei’s form, or helping him push through the water, he really is). His butterfly is almost perfect, each stroke made up only of sharp, exact movements full of purpose, and whenever Gou sighs happily at the sight of Rei’s arms, Nagisa joins in because it always makes Rei blush.

-

Graduation is a blur – families and teachers and classmates and a bright blue sky.

He’s about to make a joke about asking Rei for his uniform jacket button when Rei turns to him and says:

“I got accepted to a university in England.” 

And Nagisa replies:

“That’s great!”

Nagisa goes with Rei and his parents to the airport, helps him check his bags and makes sure he has everything. When Rei reaches security, where he’ll have to go on alone, he pulls Nagisa into a hug.

He rubs his eyes quickly when they separate, and says “be sure to send me lots of pictures, ok?” before Rei can say anything that will really make him cry.

“Of course,” Rei replies, and Nagisa watches him disappear into the crowd.

“We were a little worried about him starting high school,” Rei’s mother says, teary-eyed. Rei’s father puts his hand on her shoulder. “But once he joined the swim club and met you boys, we knew he’d be fine.”  
“Thank you,” Rei’s father says, and Nagisa has to grind his teeth together to keep from crying.

There’s a picture of Big Ben waiting for him on his phone when he wakes up the next morning.

-

`I like you a lot.`

He should probably delete it.

-

Nagisa’s first year at university keeps him occupied and happy – he makes friends, studies, goes out drinking, all of the usual things. He can’t bring himself to join the swim team – it seems untruthful, somehow, to swim without the others, so he joins the baseball team instead. He starts lifting weights to round out his exercise routine (he tries not to think about jogging with Rei to Iwatobi), and cuts his hair shorter because it keeps getting in his eyes.

He sees Haruka and Makoto often; they meet up for dinner and drinks at least once a month. Nagisa makes sure to get a picture of the three of them to send to Rei every time. Gou texts him often to see how things are going, and sends him photos of her and Rin at pre-Olympic events.

Most weeks he gets a photo of Rei’s school – pictures of towering stone buildings, polished wood lecture halls, and rows of impeccably planted trees lining stone paths. He loves when Rei goes travelling – he sends photos of paintings in the Louvre, the Alps against a clear blue sky, the Pantheon, Hagia Sophia, the canals in Venice captioned _how quickly do you think we’d lose Haru?_

Nagisa saves each and every one in a folder on his laptop. He always replies back with a joke or an emoji, and only dares to text _I miss you_ when he’s a little tipsy or it’s late at night (or both), when he can send the message and then hide under the covers of his bed.

-

By his third year of university, they’ve all drifted apart. Makoto and Gou send him friendly texts now and then, but he hasn’t heard from Haruka or Rin in ages, and Rei seems to have fallen off the face of the earth.

But he’s made first string on the baseball team, gets good grades, and has even gotten a few centimeters taller. He shouldn’t complain.

He’s had a few boyfriends, too, one upperclassman from the baseball team who graduated last year, an underclassman he met on a group date, and another he was introduced to through a mutual friend. All of those relationships seem to end almost naturally; they always both agree that they’ve had good run and part ways easily.

-

`I like you a lot.`

He really, really, should delete it.

-

`We’re having a reunion at @ Iwatobi next Saturday at 5, be there!`

Gou’s text sends him into a panic, and he’s not sure why. He’s just graduated from university, and high school feels like another lifetime now.

Amakata meets him at the entrance to Iwatobi, umbrella resting on her shoulder like always.  
“Hazuki, you look well,” she says with a smile. “Are you ready to see everyone?”

Gou tackles him the instant he walks out of the changing room. “You’re all grown up, Nagisa,” she says with a dramatic sniff, and sighs appreciatively when she takes him by the arm to drag him closer towards the pool. “So handsome!”  
“You sound like my sisters,” he tells her, and she laughs.

Haruka is in the pool, of course, and holds a hand up out of the water to wave hello. Makoto hugs him and marvels at how tall he is (they’re eye to eye), and Rin claps him on the back before jumping into the pool.

“We’re all here now,” Amakata says behind him, and there’s Rei and -

And suddenly he is sixteen and terrified of being in love again.

-

They all fall back together easily, and they even see Mikoshiba and Nitori from time to time. Makoto is a kindergarten teacher at Iwatobi, and Haruka coaches at a new swim club just outside of town. Rin still trains with the national team, and he’s become pretty popular after a promising showing at the last summer Olympics, so Gou decided she’d be his manager.

Rei works with his parents at their flower shop, helping them out with all of the math and accounting. Haruka gets Nagisa a job as a swimming instructor on the weekends, and he works full-time at a bookstore in town, saving up for an apartment of his own.

He soon finds himself spending most of his free time with Rei again – they go jogging in the mornings, get dinner together on the weekends, and ride the train together when Nagisa goes to the swim club to teach his elementary school students. Rei has become Nagisa’s swim class mascot; the kids adore Rei, and he gives them plenty of motivation to never give up: _if I can learn to swim anyone can_ , and _Nagisa’s the best teacher there is, he taught me!_

Rei’s speeches make Nagisa want to hide underwater and never come back up, and it doesn’t take long for him to realize the entire situation is hopeless all over again.

-

They’re watching TV at Nagisa’s house (they both have the day off, and his parents and sisters are thankfully all out) when Rei suddenly reaches for the remote and turns the TV off.

“I’m sorry,” Rei says suddenly, “I know – I know we lost touch and I stopped texting and I didn’t mean to.”

Rei’s hands are bunched in the fabric of his pants, and Nagisa scoots closer, murmuring soothing nonsense. “Hey, it’s ok, Rei, I did the same thing.”

“Have you ever been in love?” Rei asks quietly, and Nagisa feels terror boil up in his stomach as Rei stares down at his hands.  
“I had a few boyfriends,” he replies, and Rei’s smile looks pained.  
“There was a girl – and a boy – but nothing – it was never serious.”

“I saved all the photos you sent me,” Nagisa blurts out, and almost covers his mouth with his hands.  
“Nagisa, I –”

He kisses Rei, like he’s wanted to ever since he found out all Rei could swim was butterfly.

“I love you,” Nagisa says helplessly, and thinks of that lonely text message, sitting for years on his phone, hadn’t he decided that love was just too scary? His vision is blurring, and his entire body feels hot. “I did, before, and I do now, again, and I know it’s probably not the best time for a love confession but…” 

Suddenly, Rei is right next to him, wiping away Nagisa’s tears with his thumbs. “I don’t know what to do!” Rei shouts, blushing furiously. “You’re…you’re…different and beautiful and I’m the same and boring and I haven’t seen you in years until now and - ”

Nagisa cups Rei’s face in his hands and kisses him again, sighing when Rei’s arms come up to rest on his shoulders.

“I think you got a little taller,” Nagisa whispers when they break apart, and Rei rolls his eyes.

“You really do have to take responsibility now,” Rei says, tilting his head to drop a quick, soft kiss on Nagisa’s lips. Nagisa doesn’t know whether to laugh or to start crying again. “Upstairs,” Rei breathes out, “if your parents find us I will probably die,” and yelps when Nagisa picks him up off the couch. 

Nagisa sits on his bed with his arms still wrapped around Rei, who settles back into his lap and unbuttons Nagisa’s shirt with careful determination. Nagisa sneaks his trembling hands under Rei’s sweater, and devotes himself to making Rei blush as much as possible.

-

`I like you a lot.`

He shows Rei the text while they’re out getting coffee one day, and Rei smiles, his ears turning pink.

“You could have sent it,” he says as they walk back to Nagisa’s house.  
“I could _not_ ,” Nagisa gasps. “What would you have even done if I did?”

Rei takes this question seriously, frowning as he calculates all probable outcomes. “I probably would have hid from you.”  
“ _Exactly_ ,” Nagisa says. “And I would have been too scared to face you, and where would we be then?”

“Here, I would hope.” Rei’s smile softens, and the flush on his ears runs down his neck, onto his cheekbones. He holds his hand out, and Nagisa presses their palms together.

Nagisa sends the text that night, and wonders if those little pieces of data are happy to have finally escaped his phone. 

His phone buzzes with Rei’s reply, and he has to build up the courage to open it.

`I like you a lot too.`


End file.
